1/32 BOC 2025  British Open Championship

 Sports

Could Josh complete a clean sweep of pole positions? Well, no – he never seemed to be on it and stopped before the end of his minute. Martin was comfortably top, followed by Pat, Steve, Josh and Barry.

David led at the start of the B final, followed by Keith and Ant. Keith upped his pace and took the lead in the second segment, with Ant also overtaking David. Keith continued to get faster with each passing segment, winning comfortably with 136.22 laps. Ant was 2nd with 130.21 and David 3rd with 124.25 after his car ran out of ground clearance in the final segment. Nick was 4th and Neil 5th.

Martin led at the start of the A, closely followed by Josh who’d succeeded in getting dialed in again. Pat was 3rd at the end of segment 1, just ahead of Steve. Josh took the lead in segment 2 and Steve got ahead of Pat. The next segment saw Josh extend his lead to more than 2 laps, and Pat forced to retire when his car stripped its gear. Josh had extended his lead further by the end, finishing with 149.48 to Martin’s 144.62 and Steve’s 139.13. Keith’s B final score took 4th place and Barry was 5th with 133.22.

Brushed Motors

Four people used brushed motors in F1 – Neil was 1st, Steve 2nd, then David & Ant. In Sports we had 2 brushed runners – David was 1st and Neil 2nd.

Clubman Grade

Nick won the Clubman Grade prize, but it was a pity he was the only entrant.

Main Grade

Steve was a convincing winner of the Main Grade trophy, coming 1st in Saloon & Sports and 3rd in F1. Other Main Grade podiums were Neil 1st in F1, Barry 2nd in F1 & Sports, Ant 2nd in Saloon & 3rd in Sports, and Pat 3rd in Saloon.

Overall

We awarded trophies for the first 3 overall, counting each person’s best 2 classes, similar to how BOC championship points are awarded. Third on that basis was Steve with two 3rd places. Martin won Saloon and came 2nd in both other classes – great results but not quite good enough for overall victory since Josh won F1 & Sports (and was 2nd in Saloon) – very well done Josh!

Alan Lucas

Dunfermline 1/32 BOC Meeting, 01 June 2025

We had 10 racers at the Dunfermline 1/32 BOC meeting this year. Three were classed as “home members”: Neil Grogan, Pat Skene and Ant Hawkes, the latter because he raced on the track within 2 months of the meeting. A few regulars were missing due to the proximity with the European Championships in the Czech Republic.

In all 3 classes we had 2 finals, each with 5 competitors, one person sitting out each segment of course.

 Saloon

Josh Bryant top qualified in Saloon and was joined in the A final by Martin Ellis, Ant, Keith Gibson and Steve Sargent.

In the B final, Pat took the lead early on and held it throughout the race, setting a target of 115.21 laps. Club-mate Neil was on the same lap for the first half of the race and finished 2nd, about a lap and a half behind Pat. Nick Cunningham, David Sargent and Barry Gilzean followed on.

Martin made a storming start to the A final and was already a lap and a half up on Josh at the end of the first segment, but he then struggled on Blue lane and Josh led by a lap and a half at half distance. Steve had also overtaken Martin, but only by a few feet. Ant was close behind, so we had 3 people on the same lap at halfway. Martin was then suddenly back on the pace, setting the fastest segment of the race on Yellow and taking a slender lead over Josh into the last segment. Steve and Ant were now 4 laps behind, but separated by only a couple of feet. Martin had another good run in the final segment, winning with 124.38 to Josh’s 123.45. Ant’s car sustained some accident damage and he slipped back slightly, Steve taking 3rd with 116.74 from Ant on 115.83, just half a lap ahead of Pat’s B final score.

 Formula 1

Josh was top qualifier again in F1, followed by Martin, Keith, Neil and Pat.

In the B final, Barry took the early lead, followed closely by David and Steve. David then had a great run on Yellow lane and had a slender lead over Barry at halfway. However, David was slower on Red, allowing Barry and Steve to get ahead of him. Barry then increased his lead slightly in the final segment and took the win with 114.74. Steve was 2nd with 113.67, just ahead of David with 113.36.

The first segment of the A final was close, Josh leading but Martin and Keith within half a lap, but then Josh just stormed away and won by over 6 laps. Behind him it was a lot closer. Keith was 2nd at half distance, but Neil and Martin were within half a lap of them. It was even closer after segment 3. Martin was back up to 2nd place, just ahead of Keith and Neil, all 3 covered by just 30 parts. Martin and Neil then both had their fastest segments of the race, Martin finishing with 118.17 laps, Neil with 117.44 and Keith with 115.85. Barry’s B final score gave him 5th overall.

Josh